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How to Download Any Social Media Video on Your iPhone for Free

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and similar platforms all offer their own video streaming services. But unlike YouTube, these services don’t offer an optimal viewing experience. Finding a video that you saw yesterday on your feed becomes a tedious task.

You thus might want to download your favorite videos from Instagram or Twitter. But not many iPhone apps let you do that. And the few available options are riddled with ads and popups. Fortunately, there’s a better way.

Using Apple’s own automation app Shortcuts, you can download videos from Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as automate everyday tasks. It’s quite simple. Let me walk you through it.

What Is Shortcuts?

Shortcuts is a new iOS 12 app released by Apple. It’s a user-defined automation app. Basically, with Shortcuts, you can create a workflow of actions that happen one after the other.

For a routine task that requires four steps, you can use Shortcuts to create a workflow that accomplishes the task with just one tap. For example, you can create a shortcut that takes two images, joins them horizontally, resizes the resulting image, and converts it to JPEG format, all with a single tap.

The best part about Shortcuts is that it lets you create your own shortcuts with ease. Think of these shortcuts as mini-apps. The best way to start is downloading Shortcuts and giving it a try without worrying about the specifics.

How to Download Videos From Instagram

To download videos from Instagram, we’ll use a shortcut called InstaSave. I’ll walk you through the process of downloading and using a shortcut using the InstaSave shortcut. Download our InstaSave Shortcut before moving on.

After downloading the Shortcuts app, launch it and set it up. Now open the InstaSave shortcut link in your browser and tap on Get Shortcut. This will open the shortcut in the Shortcuts app. Again, tap on the Get Shortcut button.

Now, the InstaSave shortcut has been added to your Library section. (If you’re curious about the steps in your shortcut, you can tap on the menu button to take a look at the list of actions.) Next, open the Instagram app and navigate to the video that you want to download.

Once there, tap on the Menu button and select Share to. Then choose Shortcuts from the bottom row. If you don’t see the Shortcuts option, tap on More and enable it.

From the list of available shortcuts, tap on InstaSave. In a couple of seconds, the shortcut will run through all the actions and when it’s done, you’ll be back to the video.

Now, when you open the Photos app and go to the Camera Roll, you’ll find the downloaded video at the bottom of the list. That’s it—there’s no need to download an app or pay for a shady service.

How to Download Stories From Instagram

The InstaSave shortcut also includes a feature where you can download Instagram Stories from the past 24 hours (of a public account) in bulk. First, open the Instagram account of the appropriate user and tap on the Menu button. From here, tap on Copy Profile URL.

Next, open the Shortcuts app, and from the Library tab, tap on InstaSave. From the popup, select Stories.

You’ll then see the download’s progress in the shortcut box. When it’s done, you’ll get a check mark in the box. All of that user’s Stories (both images and videos) from the past 24 hours are now saved in your Camera Roll.

How to Download Videos From Twitter

To download videos from Twitter, we’ll utilize a different shortcut called Twitter Video Downloader. The installation process for this shortcut is the same. Once it’s set up, open the Twitter app and find the video (this also works for Twitter website).

Then tap on the Share button and select Share Tweet via. From the Share sheet, tap on Shortcuts and select Twitter Video Downloader.

You’ll see the shortcut kick into action. From the popup, select the video quality you want: High, Medium, or Low. After the video downloads you’ll see a confirmation box. Find all downloaded videos in your device’s Camera Roll.

How to Download Videos From Facebook

Download Video is a plainly named shortcut that lets you download videos from Facebook and many other websites. However, the Facebook app is a bit different when it comes to sharing videos because it offers no options to copy a link to the video or share it with another app.

Open Facebook.com in Safari or another browser. Sign in if necessary, then navigate to the video that you wish to download. From the video page, tap on the Share button and select Shortcuts. Then select Download Video.

In the next popup, select the video quality that you want to download. Once the video is downloaded, the shortcut will open the Share sheet. From here, tap on Save Video to save it to the Camera Roll.

Automate Everyday iPhone Tasks Using Shortcuts

Hopefully, you’ve just experienced the beauty of the Shortcuts app. Thanks to its versatility, it has created a downloader for you and integrated it directly with the Photos app. Just a couple of taps ensure that any video you like is saved to your gallery.

And this is just one of its many uses. You can use Shortcuts to automate many areas of your life, creating a series of mini-apps that take care of tedious everyday tasks. You can even download shortcuts other users have created.